288 DAYSSan Francisco · 1915
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The Zone · The Zone

Japan Beautiful

A free-admission Japanese village of games, tea houses and bazaars behind a 120-foot gilded Buddha that faced the Zone's Plaza.

Entrance to Japan Beautiful with the giant Buddha
Entrance to Japan Beautiful with the giant BuddhaCardinell-Vincent Co., 1915, public domain

The Zone's most famous landmark was a colossal seated Buddha, 120 feet of gilded plaster, that guarded the entrance to Japan Beautiful. Two days before the fair opened it still brooded over the chaos with three-quarters of its face gilded and the rest under a sheet. Getting it built was slow enough that an assistant to the concessions chief was assigned to hurry the work for weeks. It was separate from the official Japanese government pavilion in the foreign section.

Inside the gate was a small town of Japanese games and amusements: shooting galleries, little cook-houses serving tea and cakes, and bazaar booths. The management capped any single purchase at one dollar. Barred from selling anything costly, the concessionaires invented a stream of small games of chance with merchandise as stakes, and new ones seemed to appear overnight. Admission was free, so the compound was always full of sailors, soldiers and families playing ball and wheel games for tea-cups and lacquer boxes. A silhouette artist, Baron Scotford, did a brisk trade cutting portraits.

The ground-breaking on August 29, 1914, was among the most colorful ceremonies before the fair. There was Japanese wrestling, jiu-jitsu and a sword contest, a miniature Mount Fuji heaped from the turned earth and crested with salt, and a buried talisman. Visitors loved the place, but its beautiful front cost too much, and Todd judged it 'not an especially fortunate venture.' Miss Maidie Roberts of Japan Beautiful was elected Queen Zona for the Zone Carnival.

At a glance

  • The gilded Buddha at the entrance was 120 feet tall (Todd).
  • Ground broken August 29, 1914; company president George Shima, manager Y. Kushabiki.
  • Admission free; no single purchase could exceed one dollar.
  • Maidie Roberts of Japan Beautiful was elected Queen Zona for Zone Day, May 27, 1915.

Afterward

Demolished with the Zone in 1916; the Plaza site is now Marina District housing at about Gough & Francisco Streets.

The site today

Present-day photographs and video of this spot are being made for the film; each frame below is a slot for one of them.

Today · photograph to comeThe Zone's plaza · Gough and Francisco

Gough St at Francisco

Have a photo of this spot? Email it to hello@288days.com with code S32 and up to 50 characters of credit. It appears here and in the film.

Sources